It is an insult to Academia & Democracy that Wessley should have been Knighted; Prof. Hooper argues the case eloquently - in my opinion, he's nought but a "Ghost-Writer" Medically-Qualified Fraud.
It is a further insult that this Site should have been '404'ed!
Britain a 'free-speaking' Democracy, pffft!!

38 degrees, you are a sham petition organisation. You have known that this petition is not functioning for nearly a week and done NOTHING about it. Why should we bother signing your petitions as nothing changes, even when the problem lies with your organisation :(

What more can be said about the failed scientifically unproven theories of Simon Wessely. There are no more powerful recommendations of their effectiveness than Sophie Mirza, Lois Owen, Emily Collingridge and the many thousands ME patients whose lives were prematurely taken from them due to false science of psychiatry in ME research :(

In 1995 the insurance industry complained that it: “stands to lose millions if we do not move quickly to address this increasing problem” (15) and in 2002 said: “Take for instance a 30 year old who succumbed aged 30 when earning £75,000 a year. The policyholder might be in line to get two-thirds salary -- £50,000. Over 35 years, if the condition never resolved, the insurer would be paying out £1.75 million. Re-naming the condition CFS and discarding earlier labels including ME was helpful. ‘Syndrome’ implies a range of causes and symptoms. The company’s exposure to chronic fatigue claims has pushed it into a very proactive approach. We get Prisma to talk to the individual and also to the partner; Prisma will work out a programme. Until recently, the role of IP (income protection) providers stopped at paying claims. Now they are initiating intervention” (16).

Could there be a more clearly expressed reason for Wessely School members who work for the insurance industry to deny that ME/CFS exists and to oppose the evidence that it is a serious organic disease from which full recovery is unlikely? If objective evidence of organic pathology were to be acknowledged, it would undermine the insurers’ assertion that it is a psychosocial disorder and therefore ineligible for benefit payment.

This man has caused untold misery to thousands of people by his stubborn refusal to accept the scientific proof of the reality of M.E as a serious neurological disease. Not only M.E has been dished but so has Gulf War Syndrome causing so many brave and valiant service personnel great distress for themselves and their families. Such a man is not worthy of a Knighthood from Her Majesty the Queen and I suggest that the decision to go ahead with this travesty be rescinded immediately. Hundreds of thousands of people will be devastated if this goes ahead including those who served her so well and suffered for it in the Gulf Wars and again, so it appears, in the ongoing war in Afghanistan!

Wessely trivialises a devastating disorder from which people die: the recent tragic deaths from ME of three young women in the UK, all in their 30s (Sophia Mirza, Lynn Gilderdale and Emily Collingridge) should shame all “non-believers”. Wessely’s influence also extends to the insurance industry. PRISMA is a multi-national healthcare company working with insurance companies; it arranges “rehabilitation” programmes (ie. graded exercise therapy) for people with ME claiming on their policies. In the PRISMA company information, Simon Wessely was listed as a Corporate Officer and was a member of the Supervisory Board (ie. higher than the Board of Management).

World experts have repeatedly shown that Wessely has not produced “sound science and evidence” about ME. Indeed, 21 years ago Peter Behan, Professor of Neurology at Glasgow, showed that the psychiatric hypothesis: “lacked all scientific merit and now, with the emergence of hard data, can be totally rejected”

If he doesn't know what really causes ME, then he should have the decency to say so and not label a real illness as being perpetuated by the mind! I have been assessed as being perfectly 'normal' in my thinking and I use psychological tools to help me, but they have NOT cured my symptoms. He is betraying thousands of people with his theories, which have NO scientific basis. He cannot accept any criticism and claims he is being subjected to all manner of atrocities. Hang on...he is hurting everyone with his untruths and of course people are getting upset and angry. The Govt should stop listening to his advice. I have found no evidence of his cures of CBT and GET at all...there IS no evidence!! The truth with out and I shall look forward to his demise within the scientific community. He has done nothing to help the Gulf War victims who were bombarded with a toxic cocktail of drugs, but then he is operating for the Govt...so more cover-ups.

Bestowing this title to Simon Wessely cheapens it for everyone else that has, or ever will receive it. This man has done much harm to patients with M.E./CFS all over the world because of his teachings, which have been repeatedly proven to be wrong! The only reason his theory has been accepted is because it saves insurance companies BILLIONS!

Wessely's hypothesis is consistently being proved wrong by serious scientific research into ME/CFS around the world. Both the Maddox Prize and the British Honours system are damaging their own reputation by honouring someone who insists upon standing by his own discredited theories. There are many scientists working in the field of ME/CFS who completely disagree with Wessely's approach. Some are vocal and are therefore branded 'activists' and some choose not to make their opposition to his views public. If it were not for the fact that his theories have caused added suffering to people with ME/CFS, then he could just be consigned to the long list of scientists throughout history who's theories were once taken seriously but are now regarded as being totally wrong.